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A SPECIAL REPORT 



TO 



The Board of Visitors of the Virginia 
Military Institute 



ON 



The Hi^ory of Agricultural Education in Virginia 



AND 



THE VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE 



AS A 



School of Agriculture, Including a Sketch of the Physical Survey 
of Virginia by the School of Applied Science 



By Colonel JENNINGS C. WISE 

Professor of Law, Economics and Political Science 

V. M. I. 



A SPECIAL REPORT 



TO 



The Board of Visitors of the Virginia 
Military Institute 



ON 



The Hi^ory of Agricultural Education in Virginia 



AND 



THE VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE 



AS A 



School of Agriculture, Including a Sketch of the Physical Survey 
of Virginia by the School of Applied Science 



By Colonel JENNINGS C. WISE 
Professor of Law, Economics and Polilieal Science 

V. M. 1. 

Septemler II. 1914 



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Agriculture is not only one of the most honorable pursuits 
of man but it is undoubtedly the oldest legitimate one. Cin- 
cinnatus, the farmer, was called from the plow to wield the 
sword in defense of his country and for his military services 
he has been accorded great honor. But the Holy Writ com- 
mands men to refrain from strife among themselves and to 
return to agriculture. "And He shall judge among the na- 
tions and shall rebuke many people! and they shall beat 
their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning- 
hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither 
shall they learn war any more." 

While the early Virginians did not entirely forego strife 
the wars they did wage were principally with the native and 
the prize they sought was agricultural opportunity, for from 
the first they saw that the character of Virginia was deter- 
mined by the nature of the soil, its adaptability to tillage 
and to the raising of great agricultural staples. 

History repeated itself in the settlement of America. So 
amply rewarded were those who sought out the new conti- 
nent that her once abundant storehouses were all but com- 
pletely spoiled before the greedy horde came to see that 
there was a limit even to the bounty of nature. Indeed, it 
was not until the close of the eighteenth century that serious 
alarm was felt for the future. Up to that time there had 
been very little intelligence shown by the'American agricul- 
turist. The system pursued by him seems to have been very 
generally a three field rotation— two of different grains and 
the third of pasturage, without any plan of fertilization 
whatever. Such was the condition in 1800 that an English 
observer who published about this time a pamphlet containing 
his observations on agriculture in this country, said: "Land 
in America affords little of pleasure or profit and appears in 



4 

a progress of continually affording less. In New York land 
which brought twenty bushels to the acre now produces only 
ten." (Strickland Pamphlet, London 1801, quoted by Lyon 
G. Tyler in address on Edmund Ruffin, 1913.) 

The conditions in Virginia were worse by far than those 
in New York. The planter of Virginia for near two hundred 
years had employed slave labor to drain the soil of its wealth 
and he had all but succeeded. Nothing will so easily lead 
one to understand the agricultural awakening which ensued 
as to review the economic conditions which led up to it. 

Among the petitions presented to the Virginia Convention 
of 1829-30, was one from the citizens of Staunton, praying 
the abolition of slavery and reciting the economic evils 
brought about by its maintenance. 

"We waive", the petition recited, "at present the consid- 
erations of religion and humanity, which belong to this mo- 
mentous subject, and present it as a naked question of policy, 
wisdom, and safety. We affirm that the possession and man- 
agement of slaves form a source of endless vexation and 
misery within the house, and a waste and drain on the farm; 

that the waste of the products of the land, nay, of 

the land itself, is bringing poverty upon all its inhabitants; 
that this poverty and the supineness of our population eith- 
er prevents the institution of scViOols through the country or 
keep them in the most languid and inefficient condition; ob- 
viously paralyze all our schemes and efforts for the needful 
improvement of the country 

"It is conceded on all hands that Virginia is in a state of 
moral and political retrogression among the States of the 
Confederacy .... We humbly suggest our belief, that the 
slavery which exists, and which, with gigantic strides, is 
gaining ground among us, is, in truth, the great efficient 
cause of the multiple evils which we all deplore. We cannot 
conceive that there is any other cause sufficiently operative 
to paralyze the energies of a people so magnanimous, to 



neutralize the blessings of Providence, included in the gift 
of a land so happy in its soil, its climate, its minerals and 
its waters and to annul the manifold advantages of our Re- 
publican freedom and geographical position. If Virginia 
has already fallen from the high state, and if we have as- 
signed the true cause of her fall, it is with utmost anxiety 
that we look forward to the future, to the fatal termination 
of the scene." 

The indictment contained in the Staunton petition was 
not overdrawn. The political speeches and debates of the 
day show that a realization of Virginia's sad plight was 
forcing itself upon her citizens throughout the length and 
breadth of the State. Thomas Marshall, of Fauquier County, 
Charles J. Faulkner, of Berkeley County, Philip A. Boiling, 
of Buckingham County, Ex-Governor James McDowell, of 
Rockbridge County, Dr. Henry Ruffner, President of Wash- 
ington College, R. R. Howison,the historian. Bishop Meade, 
the great Virginia divine, Ex-Governor Wise of Accomack, 
and Jesse Burton Harrison, a political writer of note, forc- 
fully express the convictions entertained by the Staunton 
petitioners and all testified to the degraded state of Virginia 
agriculture. (Read interesting extracts from their speeches 
and writings collected in Virginia's Attitude Toward Slave- 
ry and Secession; Munford, pp. 128-138) 

During the first quarter of the nineteenth century very 
little had been done for agriculture in Virginia. The Vir- 
ginia Agricultural Society had been formed and some inter- 
est had been aroused through its efforts. As early as 1810 
John Taylor of Caroline County, a United States Senator and 
the President of the Society, published a series of articles 
on agricultural conditions in the State and these articles 
were in 1818 collected in book form and widely circulated. 
This work passed through at lest six editions and was the 
first serious treatise on agriculture published in the United 
States. 



6 

Taylor's writings were followed by those of Edmund 
Ruffin. RufRn was not only a learned and prolific writer but 
a most determined campaigner in the interest of agricul- 
ture. His first published exposition of his agricultural the- 
ories and practices appeared in 1821 in the American Farm- 
er and his "Essays on Calcerous Manures," published in 
1835, went through many editions, increasing in size and 
popularity at each edition. Secretary of the United Agricul- 
tural Society of Virginia in 1818, Secretary of the State 
Board of Agriculture in 1840, President of the Virginia State 
Agricultural Society in 1845, and Agricultural Commissioner 
of Virginia in 1854, he claims to have been the first to have 
outlined the course of study for an agricultural college in 
the United States. 

The first authentic record of a plan to establish a school 
of scientific agriculture in Virginia is that of the action of 
the Agricultural Society of Albemarle County in 1822. The 
following correspondence possesses peculiar interest as it 
contains the earliest proposal of the kind, not only in Vir- 
ginia, but probably in the United States. (Copied from orig- 
inal manuscript in Virginia State Library.) 

To the President of the Agricultural Society of 

October 21st, 1822. 
Sir: 

The enclosed Resolutions of the Agricultural Society of Albemarle, 
explains the wish of the Society to provide for Agriculture the advan- 
tage of a Professorship, to be incorporated in the University of Vir- 
ginia; the means proposed for making the provision; and the hope 
entertained of a general cooperation in the scheme. 

The present seems to be an important crisis in the Agriculture of 
Virginia. The portions of her soil first brought into cultivation, have, 
for the most part, been exhausted of it3 natural fertility, without be- 
ing repaired by ameliorating system of husbandry; and much of what 
remains in forest and can be spared from the demands of fuel and 
other rural wants, will need improvement, on the first introduction of 
the plough. 

These truths are not sufficiently impressed on the public attention; 
and have led to the establishing of the Agricutural Societies among us, 
which are so laudably promoting the work of reform. 



As a further means of advancing the great object, it has occurred 
to the Albemarle Society, that a distinct Professorship in the Univer- 
sity of the State, if sanctioned by the proper authority, might be ad- 
vantageously appropriated to the instruction of such as might attend, 
in the theory and practice of rural economy, in its several branches. 

To the due success of agriculture, as of other arts, theory and prac- 
tice are both requisite. They always reflect light on each other. If 
the former, without the test of the latter, be a vain science; the lat- 
ter without the enlightening precepts of the former, is generally en- 
slaved to ancient modes, however erroneous, or is at best too tardy 
and partial in adopting salutary changes. In no instance, perhaps, is 
habit more unyielding, or irrational practice more prevalent, than 
among those who cultivate the earth. And this is the more to be la- 
mented, as agriculture is still so far below the attainments to which 
it may fairly aspire. 

A professorship of agriculture might derive special advantage from 
the lights thrown out from the chair of Chemistry in that Institution. 
This science is every day penetrating some of the hidden laws of na- 
ture, and tracing the useful purposes to which they may be made sub- 
servient. Agriculture is a field on which it has already begun to shed 
its rays, and on which it promises to do much towards unveiling the 
processes of nature to which the principles of agriculture are related. 
The professional lectures on chemistry, which are to embrace those 
principles, could not fail to be auxiliary to a professorship having 
lessons on agriculture for its essential charge. 

The fund contemplated for the support of such a professorship, is to 
consist of a sum drawn from unexpended subscriptions from special 
donations, and from a diffusive contribution not exceeding a dollar from 
an individual. It is hoped, that for a purpose of such general utility, 
the number of contributions will more than make up for the smallness 
of the respective sums ; and that with the other resources, means may 
be gathered not only adequate to the immediate views entertained; but 
justifying an enlargement of them. 

Should this prove to be the case, it will be an improvement of the 
plan of agricultural instruction, to provide and place under the super- 
intendance of the Professor, a small farm in the vicinage to be culti- 
vated, partly as a pattern farm illustrating practically a system at 
one profitable and improving, partly as an experimental farm, not only 
bringing to the test new modes of culture and management but intro- 
ducing new plants and animals deemed worthy of experiment. In ob- 
taining these aid might be found in the patriotic attention of the pub- 
lic and private Naval Commanders, in their visits to foreign countries; 
and it might well happen that occasional success in rearing new spe- 
cies or varieties, of peculiar value, would yield in seeds and stocks a 
profit defraying the expences incurred on this head. 



8 

A farm exhibiting an instructive model, observed as it would be by 
occasional visitors, and understood as it would be in its principles and 
plans, by students returning to their dispersed homes, would tend to 
spread sound information on the subject of agriculture, and to cherish 
that spirit of imitation and emulation which is the source of improve- 
ment in every art and enterprise. 

You will oblige, Sir, the Society of Albemarle, by laying this com- 
munication before that over which you preside; and by transmitting 
its sentiments thereon; which will afford particular pleasure, if they 
should accord with the views of this Society and promise so valuable a 
cooperation in carrying them into effect. 
By order of the Society. 

JAMES MADISON, President. 

Agricultural Society of Albemarle, October 7th, 1822. 

On the motion of Gen. John H. Cocke, the following Pre- 
amble and Resolutions, were adopted : 

Whereas, the establishment of a Professorship of Agriculture, in 
one of the principal seminaries of learning in this State, is a measure 
eminently calculated to hasten and perpetuate the march of agricultural 
improvement, already so happily commenced ; And whereas, there are 
grounds to believe that such an institution may be incorporated into 
the University of Virginia, a position at once the most advantageous 
and convenient to every part of the State ; And whereas this Society 
could not make an appropriation of its funds more conducive to the 
permanent attainment of the primary objects of its institution — and as 
it is reasonable to expect that all the Agricultural Societies, the Farm- 
ers and Planters generally, will cheerfully contribute to an Establish- 
ment of such universal interest — Therefore 

Resolved, That one thousand dollars of the sum, now in the hands of 
the Treasurer of this Society, be appropriated to the establishment of 
a Fund, the profits of which shall go to the support of a Professorship 
of Agriculture at the University of Virginia. 

Resolved, For the furtherance of this design, that the President be 
requested to prepare an address to the other Agricultural Societies of 
this State, requesting their cooperation in this scheme — and further to 
promote the same object, and increase the said fund, that a committee 
be appointed to solicit donations not to exceed one dollar from individ- 
uals in every part of this Commonwealth. 

Resolved, That the aforesaid appropriation, together with all that 
may accrue under the foregoing Resolutions, be loaned to individuals 
on good personal security, or to corporate Bodies; and that when the 
sum loaned to any one individual shall amount to one thousand dollars 
or upwards, landed security shall be required: That the interest shall 
be payable semi-annually, and shall be reinvested, until the yearly 



9 

profits of the Fund shall be sufficient to afford an income equal at least 
to a Professorship in the University. 

Resolved, That the funds above referred to, together with donations 
of books, and property of any other description, be with the permission 
of the Legislature transferred to the Rector and Visitors of the Uni- 
versity in their corporal capacity. 

(Extracts from the minutes. ) 

P. MINOR, Secretary. 

For some reason which I have been unable to discover, 
notwithstanding certain correspondence with the authori- 
ties of the University of Virginia, the wise plan of the Agri- 
cultural Society of Albemarle was not put into effect, and 
instruction in scientific agriculture was not introduced at 
the University until 1872 when Dr. John R.Page was elected 
to the newly created chair of Agriculture and Natural His- 
tory. We shall see that an effort was made by the authori- 
ties to qualify under the Morrill Acts at the close of the war, 
but nothing came of the attempt except the creation of a 
chair of Analytical and Agricultural Chemistry in 1868 with 
the celebrated Dr. John W. Mallet as professor. 

Whoever may have first proposed the founding of a school 
of agriculture in Virginia, the first practical instruction in 
the subject and aid to the agricultural interests of the state 
came about, it is believed, in the way now to be described. 

The Virginia Military Institute was founded in 1839. In 
1841 William H. Richardson succeeded Bernard Peyton as 
Adjutant General of Virginia and thus became a member of 
the Board of Visitors of the new educational institution. 
He was a large landowner, a gifted student of public affairs, 
and a man of unusual energy and originality. He too appre- 
ciated the sad conditions obtaining in Virginia agricultural 
affairs, and in 1841 organized the Agricultural and Horticul 
tural Society of Virginia, becoming its first president which 
office he retained for a number of years. This Society seems 
to have been created to further the work of former associa- 
tions of the kind which had become more or less inactive. 



10 

Already the Virginia Military Institute had been created a 
normal school to supply the schools of the Commonwealth 
with efficient teachers. Until this was done Virginia, like 
the South at large, had been compelled to depend almost ex- 
clusively for its teachers upon Europe and the North where 
the great institutions of learning were concentrated. South- 
ern youth very largely had for a century patronized foreign 
schools and universities. There were in Virginia a number 
of colleges with long and honorable records, but at this time 
they were quite inadequate to meet the needs of the State. 
The University of Virginia, the creation of Thomas Jeffer- 
son, not having yet completed its second decade, had con- 
tributed little to satisfy the growing demand for trained 
teachers, especially in the common schools. A few graduates 
of the University had attained distinction in the educational 
work of the State, such as Professors Maupin, Powers, and 
Coleman, but they, like the better foreign scholars in the 
State, conducted private classical schools of limited size. For 
the most part the common schools depended upon educational 
adventurers, more often than not of decidedly inferior intel- 
lectual — as well as personal — qualities. In fact, the calling 
of the teacher in Virginia was in bad odor, for the drones 
who had hitherto injected their poor personalties into the 
educational sphere of the State had placed a stigma upon 
their profession, and all recognized the deplorable fact. 

It was with a desire to correct the educational evils of the 
State that the legislature launched the Virginia Military In- 
stitute upon its noble mission as the first normal school of 
the Commonwealth by Act of Assembly of March 8, 1842, in 
which it was provided "that every cadet who shall hereafter 
be received on State account, shall be required to act in the 
capacity of a teacher in some one of the schools of the Com- 
monwealth, for the term of two years after finishing his 
course at the Institute," etc.. 

At a time, then, when teaching was considered unworthy 



11 

of a young Virginian, the Institute began in 1843 to send 
forth its trained soldiers to battle for the uplifting of youth. 
First went J. B. Strange, of revered memory, to Norfolk, 
followed by J. S. Gamble, then by Robert Gatewood. J. H. 
Pitts was sent to King and Queen County, soon followed by 
J. C. Council; J. C. Willis going to Northumberland, after- 
wards to Randolph Macon College as Professor of Mathe- 
matics. George S. Patton and W. D. Stuart went to Rich- 
mond, soon to be joined by D.Lee Powell, previously assign- 
ed to Alexandria. J. L. Bryan and W. M. Nelson were sent 
to Petersburg, J. J. Phillips to Nansemond, William Mahone 
to Rappahannock Academy, J. B. Brockenbrough and Ben 
Ficklin to Abingdon, R. T. W. Duke to Greenbrier, and J. 
W. Wildman to Fredericksburg. These were but the first 
few, but from the day they entered upon the new field of 
activity no gentleman has disdained to teach Virginia youth. 
The influence of their names and characters assured the suc- 
cess of the legislative act which sent them forth to their 
labors, and soon they were followed by increasing numbers 
of graduates of the Virginia Military Institute. These young 
men had been long and specially trained to teach mathemat- 
ics and the practical branches. They carried with them to 
the school districts of the State, among which they were 
judiciously distributed, the distinctive discipline of mind 
and body which their military training had impressed upon 
them, and at once the whole educational system of the State 
reflected their quickening influence. 

For fourteen long years the Virginia Military Institute 
was the sole normal school of the State, and as evidence of 
the successful return this military school made to the Com- 
monwealth during the first two decades of its existence one 
need only refer to the records of its teachers and the Act of 
Assembly of 1856 by which a normal character was impart 
ed to its older sister, the University of Virginia. 

It should also be noted that the number of college students 



12 

in Virginia increased from 500 in 1845 to 2,000 in 1856. This 
was not due to increase of population, but largely to the ele- 
vation of the grade of scholarship by the proficient teachers 
sent out from Lexington. Soon the number of scholars 
further increased to 2,500, "giving to Virginia the proud 
preeminence of having a larger number of young men at- 
tending college in 1860, in proportion to white population, 
than any other state of this country." 

Richardson observed the success of the Institute as a nor- 
mal school with marked satisfaction and at once perceived 
its great opportunity to serve the State in another equally 
important way. Deeply interested in scientific agriculture, 
he foresaw the advantage of creating at the Institute a new 
department to include instruction in chemistry, geology and 
mineralogy, and to adapt the work of the chair to the agri- 
cultural and industrial needs of the State. This idea met 
with the approval of his confreres on the Board of Visitors, 
and accordingly the Superintendent, Francis H. Smith, was 
directed to appear before the General Assembly at the Ses- 
sion of 1845-6 and make known the plan and the wants of 
the Institute with respect to its execution. The result of 
Smith's appearance was the increase of the annuity by 
$1,000, which sum was provided for the creation of a profes- 
sorship of Physical Sciences in aid of the agricultural inter- 
ests of the State. 

Happily the choice of the man to fill the important new 
chair fell upon Lieutenant William Gilham, a distinguished 
graduate of the United States Military Academy, and he 
was immediately appointed. 

Gilham was from Indiana. He had won distinction in the 
Mexican War under General Taylor at Palo Alto and Resaca, 
had served as assistant to the celebrated Professor Bartlett 
at the United States Military Academy, and was peculiarly 
well fitted in every way to conduct the proposed work at the 
Institute. Young and enthusiastic, he entered upon the 



13 

development of his department with the utmost zeal. The 
success of his work induced the Board at the end of four 
years (1850) to abolish the Chair of Physical Sciences which 
embraced Experimental Philosophy as well as Chemistry, 
Geology and Mineralogy, and to create the separate Chairs 
of Industrial Chemistry and Experimental Philosophy. To 
the first Gilham was assigned; to the second Lieutenant and 
Brevet Major Thomas Jonathan Jackson. 

In January, 1851, the Superintendent submitted to the 
Governor and the legislature a special report of Major Gil- 
ham which throws so much light upon agricultural condi- 
tions in Virginia at the time, and which so clearly estab 
lishes Gilham's service to the State, that it is given in full. 

"V. M. Institute, January 19, 1851. 
"Sir, 

"The board of visitors of the institute, at their last annual meeting, 
having determined that the departments of instruction heretofore in 
charge of the professor of physical sciences should hereafter be under 
the charge of two professors, one of natural philosophy, the other of 
chemistry, mineralogy and geology, and having at their last called 
meeting in September assigned me to the latter chair, it becomes my 
duty to express to you my views as to the best manner of organizing 
and imparting instruction in this important department. 

"1st. I propose the same course of general chemistry as is taught 
at the U. S. Military Academy, adopting the same mode of instruction 
and illustration practiced and found so successful in that institution. 
This, by the present arrangements of the studies in the institute, ought 
to constitute a part of the course of instruction for the second class 
of cadets. 

"2nd. A course of mineralogy and geology. The cabinet of min- 
erals and fossils now in the institute, and which is receiving annual 
additions, will prove valuable aid in these courses. In mineralogy, 
my object will be, besides teaching the general principles of the 
science, to make the class familiar with the most commonly occurring 
and useful minerals; and in geology particular attention will be given 
to the geological features of our own state. 

"3rd. A course of agricultural chemistry. The necessity for in- 
struction of this kind will become manifest when we consider the 
fact, that no institution of learning in the state has as yet given such 
a course of instruction as to give its graduates a thorough scientific 
knowledge of the principles of agriculture and that the greater portion 



14 

of the educated community are either interested or actually engaged 
in agricultural pursuits. To satisfy myself on the latter point, I have 
made enquiries for the purpose of ascertaining the occupations of the 
fathers of the cadets now in the institute, and find that at least four- 
fifths of them are farmers. 

"It is but fair to infer that a large proportion of these young men 
will in their turn engage in the pursuit of agriculture sooner or later, 
and that those who do not, will, from early association if from no oth- 
er cause, feel deeply interested in the agricultural prosperity of the 
state. Why then should they be required to acquire a course, which, 
while it fits them for the study of the learned professions, for becoming 
engineers, draftsmen, etc., teaches them nothing of that profession it 
should be the object of every good citizen to make the most 'learned 
of all?' 

"The object of the board of visitors, in arranging the course of in- 
struction in the institute, has always been to give our young men such 
an education as will be best calculated to make them practically useful 
Now I cannot conceive of any one thing better adapted to effect that 
object than a thorough course, embracing the theory and practice of 
agriculture always having special reference to the agriculture of our 
own state, and the means to be adopted for its improvement. Such a 
course may very readily be taught the first class, and would be based 
upon and naturally follow chemistry and geology. 

"4th. A course of practical and analytical chemistry. Every col- 
legiate institution in the country that sets up any claim to respectabil- 
ity is provided with more or less apparatus to illustrate the most 
prominent facts and principles of the science of chemistry. In the in- 
struction the classes have the privilege of witnessing the experiments, 
and more or less is taught about analytical chemistry, with perhaps an 
analysis or two partly performed in the presence of the class. What I 
propose is, that after the class has had its course of general chemis- 
try, it shall be divided into sections of convenient size, one section 
taken into the laboratory at a time, and these required to make use of 
the apparatus in preparing various substances, re-agents, etc. After 
the class has acquired some skill in this way, I propose to require each 
member to go through a systematic course of chemical analysis, 
both qualitative and quantitative, including the analysis of soils. The 
schools of chemistry in Germany have a worldwide reputation, and their 
success may in a great measure be attributed to the fact, that practi- 
cal chemistry forms an indispensable part of the chemical course. The 
importance of a practical knowledge of chemistry, and the advantages 
to be received by such a course of instruction in the institute must be 
manifest to any one. In our country the necessity for instruction of 
this kind is beginning to be felt; at least two schools of practical chem- 



15 

istry are now in successful operation — one in Yale college, the other 
in the Lawrence scientific school, Harvard university. 

"The laboratory to be provided in the new buildings might be fitted 
up with special reference to practical instruction with but a very 
slight addition to its expense. Some additional annual expense will 
have to be incurred, for the purpose of keeping up the apparatus, re- 
placing chemicals, etc., but this will be too small to require any spe- 
cific appropriation. 

"While on this subject, I would suggest the propriety of the board 
of visitors applying to the legislature for the passage of a law to make 
the professor of chemistry in the institute 'State agricultural chem- 
ist. ' A small annual appropriation (say one thousand dollars) will be 
necessary to cover the travelling expenses of the professor, and to pay 
the salary of an assistant, who will be required as an instructor in the 
department of chemistry, and to assist in the analysis of soils, etc. 

"In case of favorable action by the legislature, 1 would suggest the 
following as some of the duties which ought to devolve upon the agri- 
cultural chemist He should be required to make annual tours through 
different parts of the state, during the months of July and August 
when academic duties are suspended in the institute, and at such oth- 
er times as the duties of the chair of chemistry could be performed by 
the assistant professor. His object should be, to visit as many farms 
in every neighborhood he passes through as time will permit, collect 
specimens of soil for analysis, make himself acquainted with the 
modes of conducting farming operations, such as manuring, saving 
manure, rotations adopted, etc., and he should suggest such improve- 
ments as would prove beneficial — as subsoiling, draining in certain 
cases, liming, marling and manuring. He should also endeavor to 
enlist every farmer on +he side of agricultural improvement; and 
should go prepared to lecture upon agricultural chemistry wherever 
sufficient interest is felt on the subject to enable him to collect an 
audience. It should be his constant effort to promote the formation of 
country agricultural societies, and should endeavor to show the great 
importance of agriculturals journals, libraries, etc. During that portion 
of the year in which his presence is necessary at the institute, his 
spare time could be usefully employed in the analysis of the specimens 
of soils collected on his tour. 

"In the last few years great strides have been made in agricultural 
improvement, but a small proportion of that improvement has reached 
this state. It is true that, by the example and exertions of individ- 
uals, great improvements have been made in certain localities, but 
they have not extended beyond the sphere of individual influence — 
there is still something wanting to arouse the mass of our farmers to 
action. The state is far behind a i.umber of her sister states in this 
particular, and must remain so until, by effecting the formation of 



16 

agricultural societies, by exciting a general interest in agricultural 
publications, and by sounding the cry of "agricultural progress" on 
every farm, o«ir farmers can be aroused and induced to contend for the 
supremacy with those who are now far in their advance. Let any one 
ride through the finest parts of our state — let him observe the waste 
of manure, the little care that ih taken of the stock or in its selection, 
the want of shelters for the winter, the little attention that is paid to 
subsoiling, draining, liming, and marling, which in many places are 
now regarded as indispensable to good farming, and he will see the 
propriety, to say the least of it, of some efforts being made to effect 
a general improvement This very desirable end is not to be accom- 
plished by appeals through the press, an occasional address, or by gen- 
eral statements, showing what has been done elsewhere; but every 
farmer must be made to feel that his farm may be improved, that he 
may do something for the general cause, and that in so doing he will 
be enriching himself. Make him feel that he is economizing when he 
subscribes to a good agricultural paper, and that as a member of an 
active agricultural society, he may be benefitted, and be the means of 
benefitting others; then we may expect agriculture to receive an im- 
pulse that will be felt throughout the state. 

"In large commercial, manufacturing or mercantile communities, 
the spirit of competition is always at work, exciting every one to exer- 
tion, either to keep up with or outstrip his neighbor ; but in an agricul- 
tural community this stimulus is wanting; and while every farmer 
may be willing to admit that there is great room for improvement, 
he is not excited to action. He may be compared to a man who, 
acknowledging the force of an appeal made by some benevolent so- 
ciety to the community, does not feel himself called upon to contribute 
until application is made to him through one of its agents. 

"The state of Maryland has her agricultural chemist, who by going 
among the farmers, lecturing, analyzing soils, etc., has already 
awakened such an interest and suggested such improvements that the 
value of the land is rising all over the state. 

"If an objection should be raised to connecting such an appointment 
with the chair of chemistry in the institute, I answer that the labora- 
tory of the institute will be fitted up with special reference to analyti- 
cal chemistry, and we have now all the apparatus necessary for the 
most accurate analysis. The assistant professor would be required to 
assist in the analytical investigations, and many of the more ordinary 
analyses would furnish good examples for practice by the class in an- 
alytical chemistry. Again — the agricultural chemist, having to in- 
struct a class in agricultural chemistry, would be enabled to impart to 
his class all that he had learned in relation to the condition of agricul- 
ture in the state, its wants, etc., which knowledge so imparted would 
be diffused throughout the state more readily than in any other way. 



17 

"Finally the trial would be attended with but little exfense, and if 
such beneficial results accrued as would justify the appointment of a 
state chemist, then the professor of chemistry could confine himself to 
his appropriate duties in the institute. 
"Respectfully submitted, 

"WILLIAM GILHAM, 
"Prof. Chemistry, V. M. L 
"Col. F. H. Smith, Sup't., V. M. L" 

At this time the writer knows of no paper more valuable 
to the historian of educational development in Virginia 
than the foregoing report. It evinces on the part of Gilham 
a grasp of the needs of the State far beyond that of most 
men of his day. Furthermore it presents the wise and 
constructive plan which he himself had formulated to sub- 
serve these crying needs. 

What Gilham proposed was soon made possible of attain- 
ment. His suggestions were adopted and for the next dec- 
ade he prosecuted his work with skill and energy. That 
work was of the most comprehensive nature, including offi- 
cial soil tests, mineral analyses, agricultural surveys, etc., 
etc., in all of which the cadets of his department assisted, 
and so well was it done, that even the ardent RufRn com- 
mended it highly. In the June number of the Southern 
Planter for 1852, referring to Gilham's printed report on the 
marls of Virginia he wrote: "The foregoing report of the 
constituent parts of certain marls of peculiar qualities is a 
valuable addition to the before existing information on the 
subject. We believe this is the first, and so far the only, 
aid of this kind rendered by a scientific investigator to the 
agricultural laborers in this department of Virginia. And 
this total withholding of aid from chemical science has not 
been for want of a long and full notice that such aid was 
needed." 

The work so highly commended by Mr. Rufl^n was soon 
supplemented by Gilnam who for sometime had been engag- 
ed in testing the super-phosphates which were being exten- 
sively vended in Virginia as useful fertilizers. Many of 



18 

them he publicly branded as spurious and utterly valueless 
if not detrimental to the soil, thereby cleansing the market 
and saving to the farmers an untold sum of money. 

In 1852 the Committee of the Board of Visitors on Instruc- 
tion which was constituted by Geo. W. Brent, W. H. Rich- 
ardson, and W. B. Taliaferro, recommended that the duties 
of Gilham as State Agricultural Chemist be extended to in- 
clude a chair of Agricultural Chemistry. It was proposed 
that this chair should supplant the Chair of Industrial 
Chemistry at the Institute and that it should be provided 
for by a special additional appropriation. This recommenda- 
tion was not, however, acted upon but Gilham, always en- 
deavoring to best subserve the interests of the State through 
his department, introduced into his course the special sub- 
ject of Agricultural Chemistry and in 1856 a large chemical 
laboratory building was erected and fully equipped with 
apparatus. 

At this point it might be interesting to discover the char- 
acter of the Chemistry Course offered at the Institute at the 
time under consideration. 

The Instruction consisted of tri -weekly recitations in Geo- 
logy, Mineralogy, and Scientific Agriculture for the First 
and Second Classes. The text books employed were Dana's 
Mineralogy, Adams' and Cray's Geology, Norton's Elements 
of Scientific Agriculture, and Johnston's Turner's Chemis- 
try. Extensive practical work was conducted in the labor- 
atory where samples of soil, fertilizers, lime, minerals, etc., 
etc., were constantly received from all quarters of the State, 
analyzed, and returned with full reports containing careful 
and expert advice. Such was the status of the Institute as 
a School of Agriculture in the year 1857. While it did not 
bear the name of a school of scientific agriculture enough 
facts have been presented to show that in fact it had been 
one since Gilham first organized his department of Industrial 
Chemistry, the first in the South in 1846. 



19 

The demand of the farmers of Virginia through their 
Agricultural Societies for scientific methods applied to the 
Cultivation of the Soil had not only been abreast but ahead 
of the times. They had been taught that since the time of 
Sir John Sinclair's first enlightened and patriotic efforts to 
introduce improved methods, skill and science combined had 
more than doubled the productiveness of the soil throughout 
England and Scotland. They' had also learned of the great 
advances made on the Continent of Europe. They knew 
that in Europe agricultural schools and colleges were deem- 
el necessary and that Professor Hitchcock of Massachusetts 
found there as early as 1848 more than four hundred such 
schools and colleges. Indeed it had been Hitchcock's com- 
prehensive report that had given such a fillip to the cause 
of agriculture in the north where the recently founded agri- 
cultural schools also owed their origin in part to the move- 
ment against the old classical school and in favor of techni- 
cal education which began in most civilized countries about 
1850. A rapidly growing country with great natural re- 
sources, the extravagant waste of which was at last all too 
apparent, needed men educated in the arts and sciences of 
life. This want first manifested itself in the United States 
by a popular agitation on behalf of agricultural schools. 

A number of socalled agricultural schools were started be- 
tween 1850 and 1862 in the states north of Virginia, but 
without trained teachers and suitable methods they accom- 
plished very little. They were only ordinary schools with 
farms attached and without the farm feature compared un- 
favorably with the course inaugurated by Gilham at the In- 
stitute in 1846. 

The second constitution of the State of Michigan, adopted 
in 1850, provided for an agricultural school, and this was 
the first adequately organized and entitled school of agricul- 
ture in the United States. The General Assembly of Pennsyl- 
vania incorporated the Farmers' High School, now the State 



20 

College, in 1854. Maryland incorporated her Agricultural 
College in 1856 and Massachusetts chartered a school of agri- 
culture in the same year. 

Richardson was convinced by the success of Gilham's 
work that the scope of the Institute should be enlarged to 
embrace an adequate school of agriculture. This belief was 
shared by Francis H. Smith, the Superintendent, Philip St. 
George Cocke, the President of the Board of Visitors, and 
of course by Gilham. Fortunately for their cause General 
Cocke was a wealthy and enthusiastic advocate. One of the 
largest landowners in Virginia and a man of commanding 
social and political influence, he generously determined to 
forego the necessary delay to obtain funds from the State 
and himself provided the means to send Smith to Europe to 
make a thorough survey of scientific agricultural education. 

In June 1858, General Smith, accompanied by three grad- 
uates of the Institute, sailed for Europe under instructions 
from the Board of Visitors to visit the chief military and 
scientific institutions of Great Britain and the continent, 
and upon his return to submit a report on ''Scientific Educa- 
tion in Europe." During a stay of near seven months 
abroad, the Superintendent, fully accredited by the Gov- 
ernor of Virginia, found ready access to most of the import- 
ant institutions of learning and carefully studied their or- 
ganization and work. Immediately upon his return to Vir- 
ginia in December he prepared a general report, which was 
considered to be of such great value that it was printed by 
the General Assembly of 1859 and widely circulated. 

That report, as well as a special one made to the Board of 
Visitors in June, 1859, contemplated the creation of a School 
of Agriculture in Virginia, and presented a detailed plan, 
based on the best of the European systems, for its organiza- 
tion and conduct in the interest of the State. It proposed 
that the Institute should be reorganized as a General 
Scientific and Military School with three special schools of 



21 

application: 1, Agriculture; 2, Engineering; 3, Fine Arts. 
The School of Agriculture was to include a department of 
Chemistry, a department of Scientific Agriculture, embrac- 
ing the subjects of natural history and scientific and practi- 
cal agriculture, and a department of Human Physiology, 
Anatomy and Veterinary Medicine. For its accommodation 
the erection of a great hall was proposed which should in- 
clude: 1, an Agricultural Museum in which specimens of 
seeds, plants, wood, roots, fruits, and other agricultural 
productions would be collected; 2, a Forestry Museum in 
which specimens of every variety of forest timber might be 
displayed, and, 3, a Museum of Agricultural Implements. It 
was also proposed that a farm for experimental and practi- 
cal agricultural work in connection with the school be pur- 
chased. "With these additional means of instruction in the 
special School of Agriculture," wrote General Smith, "the 
institution would afford facilities to the agriculturists equall- 
ed by few institutions of the kind in this or any other 
country. ' ' 

The Board of Visitors immediately adopted the recommen- 
dation contained in the Superintendent's report, and private 
donations of $20,000 and $10,000 were at once made by Gen- 
eral Philip St. George Cocke, President of the Board, and 
Dr. W. Newton Mercer, of Louisiana, respectively, for the 
endowment of the School of Agriculture, while Mrs. E. L. 
Claytor, of Lynchburg, gave $5,000 towards the erection of 
a Hall of Natural History to be named after her deceased 
son who was a graduate engineer of the Institute. An ad- 
ditional sum of $10,000 was later tendered by Dr. Mercer on 
condition that a like amount should be raised in Virginia 
within one year. 

The Board of Visitors not only accepted General Smith's 
suggestions, but actually, with the funds so generously pro- 
vided by General Cocke and Dr. Mercer, established a School 
of Agriculture with two professors. By act of March 28, 



22 

1860, the General Assembly increased the annuity to the In- 
stitute from $9,210 to $15,000, and $20,000 was specially ap- 
propriated for building purposes. 

Established by legislative act in 1860, the new special 
school of agriculture was at once put into operation for the 
two upper classes at the Institute. The following synopsis 
of the course of instruction offered in the catalogs of 1860 
and 1861 is interesting. 





Natural Philosophy 


History 


Chemistry 






Veg. Physiology 


Mineralogy 


FIHSTYEAR 




Veg. Toxicology 


Geology 


JUNIOR CLASS 




Zoology 

Agricultural 

Botany 






Civ. Eng. applied to 


An.&Phy.of Sub 


His. of Agriculture 




F. Bridgt'S, roads, 


King! 


Gen. Prin. of 




drainage irrigation 


Veterinary Practice 


Agriculture 




etc. 


Ani. Toxicology 


Chem. & Geol. of 




Field Fortification 


Hum. Physiology 


Agriculture 


SECOND YEAR 


Rural Architecture 


Hygiene 


Domestic Economics 


SENIOR CLASS 


Mech. Drawing 


Dietetics 


of Agriculture 






Gen, Botany 


Practical Agriculture 
Meteorology 
Const. Law 
Moral Philosophy 








Pol. Economy 



Meantime, however, the John Brown raid had occurred, 
and the legislative mind had been diverted from educational 
matters; further necessary appropriations for the contempla- 
ted buildings and equipment were not forthcoming. Soon 
war supervened and interrupted the final consummation of 
the constructive plans which the Institute had formulated. 
Gilham himself was called to Richmond as Commandant of 
Camp Lee where 30,000 Southern volunteers were mobilized, 
and the work which he had undertaken with such high 
promise of success was indefinitely postponed. 

The agitation in the north for agricultural schools ^lad, 
however, made itself felt in congress to such an extent as to 
lead to the establishment of the socalled "land grants" for 
agricultural colleges. The establishment of these colleges 
was due chiefly to the wisdom and foresight of Justin S. 
Morrill, who introduced the first bill for their endowment in 



23 

the House of Representatives on the 14th of December, 1857, 
and saw the latest one approved b:' the president on the 30th 
of August, 1890. Morrill is, therefore, generally accorded 
the title of father of American Agricultural College?. 

The Federal enactment or Morrill law affecting Virginia 
was that of July 2nd, 1862. 

At the regular session, 1863-4, of the Unionist Legislature 
of Virginia, or the loyal legislature, as it was called, which 
was held at Alexandria, the following act was passed Feb- 
ruary 5th, 1864. (See Session Acts 1863-4, Chapter XXI.) 

"An act accepting the donation to the State of Virginia of public 
lands in aid of education. 

"Whereas, it is provided by an act of Congress approved July 2nd, 
1862, that certain donations of public lands (to be appropriated to the 
endowment, support, and maintenance of colleges for the benefit of 
agriculture and the mechanic arts) shall be made to such states and 
territories as shall signify their acceptance of their proportions respec- 
tively of said donations, and of the conditions and provisions of said 
act : therefore, 

"Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That the do- 
nation of public lands profferred to the Commonwealth of Virginia by 
the act of Congress July 3rd, 1862, with the conditions and provisions 
therein prescribed, be and the same is hereby accepted." 

July 23rd, 1866, the act of 1862 as amended was approved 
by the President and five years was given any state which 
had accepted the act of 1862 to establish an agricultural col- 
lege, that being one of the terms of the grant under which 
Virginia was entitled to the proceeds of the sale of 300,000 
acres of the public land. 

The Morrill acts provided that "military tactics" should 
be included in the curriculum of the agricultural colleges, the 
founding of which they sought to encourage. Inasmuch as 
the Virginia Military Institute was essentially military in 
character in addition to the fact that already a school of 
agriculture had been established there by means of State 
and private aid, the opportunity afforded the State to claim 
the benefits of the Morrill acts was apparent to everyone. 



24 

May 9th, 1865, President Johnson issued the executive or- 
ders transferring the government of Virginia from Alexan- 
dria to Richmond with Francis H. Pierpont as Governor. 
The Institute was reopened the following October and at 
once the Board of Visitors petitioned the legislature for an 
act incorporating it as the State Agricultural College. Gov- 
ernor Pierpont specially recommended that this action be 
taken but the petition was not granted. Nevertheless the 
restored legislature in the Session of 1865-66 formally accept- 
ed the Morrill Acts. (See Acts 1865-6, C. 130, p. 225.) In the 
meantime, however, many other colleges in Virginia peti- 
tioned the legislature to be made the beneficiary under the 
Morrill Acts. The University of Virginia, Hampden Sidney 
College, Washington College, and Roanoke College were all 
pressing their claims with varying degrees of earnestness. 

Shortly after the war a professorship of Agriculture had 
been established at the University of Virginia based upon 
the Miller fund of $100,000. A large building had been 
erected and thoroughly equipped for the purpose of Applied 
Chemistry; the department of Natural Philosophy had been 
greatly extended and improved, a portion of the University 
grounds had been set apart for experiments and illustra- 
tions in connection with the agricultural department, and 
efforts were on foot to develop a high grade school of agri- 
culture. But it was well understood in the legislature that 
the University did not favor the plan of establishing a 
school of the manual or highly practical order. Indeed the 
supporters of the University were much divided [in the 
whole matter and as a result their influence was not brought 
to bear in the most effective way. 

Political affairs in Virginia in 1866 and 1867 were in a 
most disturbed condition. From the 3rd of April, 1865, to the 
expiration of his term of office Pierpont was subject to the 
orders of Federal military commanders. March 2nd, 1867, 
Virginia was created Military District No. 1 under a Con 



25 

gressional Act providing for the more efficient government 
of the Southern States. March 23rd, 1867, another act was 
passed providing for a constitutional convention in Virginia. 
Delegates having been elected in accordance with the terms 
of the Act, the convention assembled in Richmond in De- 
cember following. Pierpont's term of office expired in April 
and on the 6th of that month General Schofield, the district 
commander, appointed H. H. Wells, Governor of Virginia. 

For over three years the " Reconstructor Convention" 
labored over the work of framing a new constitution for 
Virginia. 

The new constitution provided for agricultural schools, 
(Chapter VIII, Sec. 5) a bureau of agricultural chemistry 
and geology, and a bureau of agriculture and immigration. 
July 6th, 1869, an election was held for the ratification of 
the constitution and at the same time for the election of a 
governor to succeed Wells. The constitution was accepted 
by an overwhelming majority, and Gilbert C. Walker was 
elected Governor, and inaugurated September 21, 1869. 

In October the General Assembly met and ratified the 14th 
and 15th Amendments. Having thus complied with the 
terms of the Federal Reconstruction Acts Virginia was re- 
admitted to the Union by Act of Congress January 26th, 1870. 

The Government having been reestablished and a legisla- 
ture elected, it was now again sought to have the Institute 
Incoporated as the State Agricultural School under the con- 
stitution and the Morrill Acts. Governor Walker was said 
to favor the plan and it seemed as if it would succeed. But 
politics ran strongly against the Institute which commanded 
little influence in the Reconstruction Legislature. That leg- 
islature has been styled the "Black and Tan" legislature be- 
cause of the mixed character of its members. There were 
Negroes, alien carpet baggers, and others little in sympathy 
with the traditions of Virginia. The service which the In- 
stitute had rendered the Confederacy did not appeal to such 



26 

an element with particular force. The great majority of 
Institute supporters were dyed in the wool "rebels." They 
had as a body fought and bled for principles entirely at 
variance with those espoused by the faction now in control of 
the State and which they regarded with contempt. Further- 
more there was a strong desire manifested in the western part 
of the State, a section now politically predominant, to erect 
in that quarter an agricultural college. On the other hand 
the Negroes, among whom there were 120,103 registered vot- 
ers as opposed to 149,781 whites, were clamorous to share 
the spoils under the Morrill Acts. Nevertheless, it was ten- 
tatively agreed upon in committee to divide the proceeds of 
the "land grant" equally between the Institute, the Univer- 
sity of Virginia, and Hampden Sidney College, and Governor 
Walker committed himself to the plan. Partial success at 
least seemed to have been at last attained by the Institute. 

The faction of the legislature in control of the situation 
was insistent upon creating something new. It desired to 
create an agricultural and mechanical college it declared, 
not of the didactic or of the progressive type which it fear- 
ed would result from the adaptation of any one of the ex- 
isting institutions, but of the practical type. "The spirit 
and tendency of the institution should be, not to educate its 
students away from their vocations, but in and for them— 
not to send them home with distaste for manual labor, and 
a craving for some more literary or less toilsome pursuit, 
but to send them back with fresh zest for their work, and a 
higher sense of its dignity and its capabilities, and with 
their own powers so strengthened that they may command 
a degree of success which they could otherwise never have 
attained." (Virginia School Report, 1872, p. 19 A. See also 
full report on proposed Agricultural and Mechanical College.) 

The expression of such ideas as these sounded well and ap- 
pealed to popular support in a State suffering from the awful 
blight of war, a State in which there had been an enforced 



27 

beating of swords into plowshares and spears into pruning- 
hooks! It was a direct and skillful appeal to the lower classes 
who were at the time in absolute control of the State legis- 
lature. Said the report of the committee appointed to con- 
sider the nature of the proposed new college, "The rich and 
influential classes are first and most liberally provided for, 
whilst the toiling masses are comparatively neglected." 
(Ibid.) 

While earnestly seeking the means with which to extend 
its usefulness to the State by securing to itself the proceeds 
of the sale of Virginia's public lands, the Institute was not 
otherwise idle. Financially embarrassed, in fact impoverish- 
ed in the eyes of many beyond redemption by the burden of 
a vast debt which it had accumulated during the war in the 
interest of the State and the Southern Confederacy, instead 
of pressing her rightful claims the Institute only sought how 
best to serve Virginia. 

Virginia was prostrate. Her affairs were in a more des- 
perate state than at the termination of hostilities. In fact 
she was materially poorer ten years after the war than at 
its close, due to the degrading policy of reconstruction 
which was pursued by the Federal Government. The task 
of restoring her waste places was a vast one and in that 
work the Institute saw a great opportunity. Accordingly 
the authorities suggested to the legislature the plan of re- 
calling Matthew Fontaine Maury, the Pathfinder of the Seas, 
from Mexico, where he had been in the service of the ill- 
fated Emperor Maximilian, to occupy the important chair 
of Physics at the Institute and to make a physical survey of 
the state. This survey, it was proposed, should include the 
preparation of a physical history of Virginia and a complete 
geographical and geological map. 

Such a work would embrace the entire physical geography 
of the state; its minerals and ores; its earths and soils; its 
forests and plants; its animals, fisheries and oyster beds; 



28 

its water power and agricultural products; its climate and 
meteorlogical .^phenomena; and in its prosecution, it would 
afford the broadest practical field of research to the students 
in each of the special schools at the Institute. Such a work 
was urgently demanded and Maury was preeminently the man 
to conduct it aided by General G. W. C. Lee, Captain John 
Mercer Brooke of naval fame, and Colonel Marshall McDon- 
ald, whom the board had secured as professors and heads of 
the departments of Applied Mechanics of Engineering; 
Practical Geography, Meteorology and Geodesy; and Miner- 
alogy and Geology, respectively. General Lee had been for 
many years associated with his illustrious father in the 
United States Engineer Corps; Captain Brooke, after having 
been for a long time on duty at the national observatory at 
Washington, in association with Maury, had conducted an 
important exploration of the North Pacific; and Colonel Mc- 
Donald had been associated with Professor Henry of the 
Smithsonian Institute. 

The committee of the legislature before whom it was laid 
favored the plan as proposed and outlined by General Smith, 
but the legislature was not prepared to provide the means 
for its execution. Despairing of state support the Institute, 
however, decided tolcarry it on to completion with its own 
slender resources and July 2, 1868, created for Maury the 
Chair of Physics and recalled him to Virginia. Fortunately 
for the state the man now regarded by many as America's 
foremost scientist, responded to the call and at once set 
about the physical survey of Virginia in the employ of the 
Virginia Military Institute. 

Part I of the Physical Survey of Virginia was the result 
of the first two years of his work. Part II occupied the re- 
maining two years of his life. Twenty thousand copies of 
Maury's world famous and epoch making report, with ac- 
companying maps, were printed and distributed at the ex- 
pense of the Institute. This report was read and approved 



29 

everywhere and was an important element in the extension 
of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad to the Ohio River, and in 
directing the attention of the world of commerce to the 
Virginia through routes as the true lines of trade from the 
Mississippi basin to the Atlantic Seaboard. Furthermore, 
it was the basis upon which the national congress undertook 
the study of transcontinental transit. 

Upon the prosecution of Maury's vast and important work 
the Virginia Military Institute expended sums aggregating 
$20,000, not one cent of which was ever refunded to it. In 
such legitimate college "extension" work it may be said to 
have only performed its functional duty as a school of ap- 
plied science. Certain it is the Institute received no con- 
sideration from the legislature for the voluntary service it 
rendered the state. 

In June 1867 the State had purchased a farm known as 
"Little Scotland" lying on Hampton Creek. Suitable build- 
ings were erected the following winter and scudents admit- 
ted in April, 1868. This institution was known as the Hamp- 
ton Normal and Agricultural School for colored pupils. In 
the town of Blacksburg, Montgomery County, there was a 
small private school owning certain real estate, known as 
the Preston and Olin Institute. The authorities of these 
two institutions were active in enlisting the support of the 
legislature and in calling attention to the advantages of 
utilizing their property in connection with the proposed 
foundation of agricultural schools. 

In the very midst of the Institute's great work on the 
physical survey of Virginia, the legislature of 1869-70, elect- 
ed under the new constitution, finally passed an act incorpo- 
rating the Hampton Normal and Agricultural School, and 
the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. The first 
was to provide instruction for colored and the second for 
white pupils. This action seems to have been the result of 
a shrewd deal between the blacks and the Western faction 



30 

in the legisalture by which the spoils were to be divided 
between them while the supporters of the various colleges 
pressing their claims contended among themselves. 

During the Session of 1871-2 the legislature authorized 
the sale of the Congressional land scrip allotted Virginia 
and provided fcr the investment of the proceeds thereof. 
(Acts 1871-2, C. 69, p. 48.) At the same session the incoxiie 
arising from this investment was appropriated— one-third 
thereof to the Hampton Normal and Agricultural School, and 
two-thirds was set apart to the use of the Virginia Agricul- 
tural and Mechanical College which was to be located at 
Blacksburg, in'Montgomery Countj, provided the real estate 
belonging to Preston and Olin Institute should be transferred 
without cost to the visitors of the new college, and provid- 
ed the County of Montgomery should vote a sum of $20,000 
as an addition to the funds of the college. (Acts 1871-2, 
C. 234, p. 312. Approved March 19, 1872.) 

The Act creating the new college required a Board of Vis- 
itors consisting of nine members to be appointed by the 
Governor, which [board was to include the President of the 
Virginia Agricultural Society and the members of the Board 
of Education, having been duly appointed the Board met in 
March, 1872. A Committee composed of Messrs. W. H. 
Ruffner, J. R. Anderson, and W.T.Sutherlin, was appointed 
to report a plan of organization and instruction for the 
new college, at the next meeting of the Board. 

In July the Board again met and received the report of 
the Committee which was adopted. One interested in the 
history of education in Virginia should redd this report, for 
it precludes the possibility of dispute as to the original in- 
tent of the founders of the Virginia Agricultural & Mechan- 
ical College. (Virginia School Report, 1872, p. 5 A. ) 

Virginia realized a larger sum per acre on the sale of her 
public lands than any other state— about ninety-three cents. 
The proceeds of the sales of the Congressional land-grant 



31 

was, therefore, about $280,000. The interest on the invest- 
ment of this sum enabled the two agricultural schools to 
commence operations at once. 

The new college at Blacksburg was opened October 1, 
1872. When the legislature created it all idea of continuing 
their efforts on behalf of the School of Agriculture at the 
Virginia Military Institute was abandoned by the authori- 
ties; the state was not only unable to provide adequate sup- 
port for its further development, but it was seen that such 
support even if possible could hardly be expected. Thence- 
forth the energies of the Institute were to be bent upon the 
development of its schools of Engineering and Chemistry, 
leading in later years to the addition of a school of electric- 
ity. All of these schools are, of course, more or less didac- 
tic. The Chair of Chemistry adapted to scientific agricul- 
ture, however, was continued. 

A fact which is not generally known should be given here. 
In August, 1880, Scott Shipp, graduate of the Virginia Mili- 
tary Institute of the Class of 1859 and who had been Com- 
mandant of Cadets at that institution since 1862 was elected 
President of the new Virginia Agricultural & Mechanical 
College. After holding office four days he resigned. Shipp 
returned to the Institute, remained Commandant until 1890, 
and was then appointed Superintendent from which office 
he resigned in 1906 after fifty years of faithful and efficient 
service as a cadet and an officer of the Institute. (Shipp was 
graduated from the V. M. I. in the class of 1859. He was 32 
years of age in 1872. ) 

October 16, 1888, the Virginia Agricultural Experiment 
Station was organized in accordance with Congressional Act 
and became a part of the Virginia Agricultural & Mechanical 
College at Blacksburg. Within recent years the college has 
changed its name and is now known as the Virginia Polytech- 
nic Institute. This change was due to a gradual transform- 
ation, in the original character of the institution from that 



32 

of a practical school of agriculture and mechanic arts as de- 
signed by its founders, to a didactic school of scientific agri- 
culture, engineering and mechanics, but strong pressure has 
of late developed in favor of the original conception in order 
to avoid the duplication of the engineering schools at the 
Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia. 
Under the administration and guidance of its recently elect- 
ed president, John D. Eggleston, the Polytechnic Institute 
bids fair to enter a field of greater usefulness to the State 
than it has hitherto occupied. 

Under section 1225, Revised Statutes, and amendments 
thereto, officers of the Regular Army are detailed as military 
instructors to certain schools, colleges, etc., that fulfill cer- 
tain specified requirements as to number of students attend- 
ing and amount of instruction given in military subjects. 

Under the Morrill Act of July 2, 1862, land and money 
were donated as we have seen : 

' ' To the endowment, support, and maintenance of at least one college 
(in each State) where the leading subject shall be without excluding 
other scientific and clas&'cal studies, and including military tactics, to 
teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the 
mechanic arts," etc. 

Under the present law there is no specified standard of 
miltary instruction required and no penalty attached to in- 
sufficient or improper military instruction that endangers 
the receipt of the annual fund appropriated, unless the fol- 
lowing provision of the act of August 80, 1890, could be con- 
strued as such, viz: 

"If the Secretary of the Interior shall withhold a certificate from 
any State or Territory (as to whether such State or Territory is entitled 
to receive its share of the appropriations for colleges) of its appropria- 
tion, the facts and reasons therefor shall be reported to the President, 
and the amount involved shall be kept separate in the Treasury until 
the close of the next Congress in order that the State or Territory 
may, if it should so desire, appeal to Congress from the determination 
of the Secretary of the Interior. 

"If the next Congress shall not direct such sum to be paid, it shall 
be covered into the Treasury. 



"And the Secretary of the Interior is hereby charged with the proper 
administration of this law. " 

The Secretary of the Interior has not under him the neces- 
sary trained military personnel to determine, so far as the 
proper military instruction is concerned, whether or not the 
intent of the provisions of the Morrill Act regarding "mili- 
tary tactics" is properly enforced, and does not attempt to 
do so. 

The War Department does inspect the several colleges to 
which Army officers are detailed, but has no remedy for the 
enforcement of the proper amount of military study other 
than the withdrawal of said officer in certain cases, the re- 
sult being that in some colleges the minimum amount possi- 
ble is set aside for the maintenance of the military depart- 
ment. 

Efforts are now being made to remedy the above situation, 
and it is hoped the results will be satisfactory. 

The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, now 
the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, has never been organized 
as an essentially military institution though the military 
feature has, perhaps, been stressed more than at many of the 
"land-grant" colleges. A semi-military organization is re- 
tained more as a means of qualifying under the terms of the 
Morrill Act than because of any convictions as to the efficien- 
cy of military training. The military Esprit of the institu- 
tion has never been developed to such degree as to make 
the required course of military training popular among the 
students. Nor was it contemplated by its founders that it 
should be. This belief is established by reference to the re- 
port of the plan of organization adopted for the college. In 
that report we read : 

"The military feature offers another embarrassing problem. There 
is great power in the military system, but as General Lee once re- 
marked, — 'To be effective, it must be perfect;' that is, not only com- 
plete in organization, but backed by military authority and penalties. 

"The Act of Congress having been passed during the war, the clause 



34 

requiring military tactics to be taught may have been prompted by 
some intention to establish the Prussian military system over the 
whole land. But if such an idea ever existed it has passed away, and 
there now seems no disposition on the part of Congress to be enacting 
with regard to the military feature in these technical schools. In 
point of fact, the colleges which received the land grant V>ave, with a 
few exceptions, given no prominence to this feature, and would be 
glad to omit it altogether. 

"Still, whilst the law exists, military tactics must be taught in 
some form. We do not understand that the term "military tactics" 
covers the whole ground of military science and tactics, but has special 
reference to field evolutions. Therefore an opportunity given to the 
students for military drill would satisfy the law. Some of the discipli- 
nary regulations might be usefully adopted, if it should be concluded 
to board all the students on the college grounds. " (See School Report, 
1872, p.. 33.) 

On the other hand, the Virginia Military Institute is es- 
sentially military in character. The military Esprit of the 
Corps of Cadets has been carefully fostered from the day the 
institution was founded with the result that its traditions 
are highly military in character. Under the provisions of 
Section 1225, Revised Statutes, and the amendments there- 
to, the Institute has always been rated as of the highest 
class of military instructions and in 1914 it was unequivo- 
cally declared by the Chief of Staff of the United States 
Army before a Committee of the Senate to be the most val- 
uable and efficient military school in the United States, the 
national academies excepted. In the report of the Army 
Inspector for that year it was stated that all requirements 
of the War Department were not only fulfilled but surpassed, 
and it was recommended that the members of the two upper 
classes might well be commissioned as officers in the volun- 
teers should need for such troops arise. 

In view of the foregoing facts it seems anomalous indeed 
that the Federal government should have contributed so lib- 
erally to the support of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute 
and extend no pecuniary aid whatever to the Virginia Mili- 
tary Institute. 



Gaylord Bros. 

Makers 

Syracuse, N. Y. 

PAT. M', 21, 1908 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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